Battery Tender is a good idea, but not required.
You need to fully charge your battery and have a load test done on it.
I use my tender if my stuff is going to sit for a while, but not every time I park it.

 

I have one on my bike, one on my Avalanche that doesn't get driven in the snow anymore, and one on my stepsons little Toyota MR2 that's in the garage while he's deployed. It's nice to be able to get into/onto something that hasn't been started in over a month and not have to jump it.
The fact that it's smart enough to keep the battery at the proper level without over charging it is nice too. For under $30, it's cheap insurance.

 

My bike will sit every other month due to my job I was debating on if i should get one, I probably will for the winter months but I am glad to hear that they should last..

 

If mine are in the garage - they are on a battery tender Jr. They are cheap and effective.

 

Get one you won't regret it, use it during extended periods of down time and it will save you much frustration.

 

I would say yes.

 

You have a few things on your bike that will be draining power from your battery, like security system and your radio. I would charge the battery up and hook to a tender. Sitting a month could be long enough to draw the battery down.

 

You MAY have a problem. Just because a battery is new doesn't necessarily guarantee it's actual condition, even though you would assume it did. I would do the checks previously mentioned, and charge the battery to see if it holds. And, I would absolutely get a tender. Gets cold up there in Tahoe, especially this time of year, so your battery will thank you if your ride is stored in an unheated space like most garages.

 

Keep a close check on mine ( FI with alarm) and a month off puts a strain on my 5 year old battery. Be sure your connections are tight. Mine tend to get loose since my aftermarket seat does not snug battery like OE. I alway put the maintenance charger on in winter since it's easy for me to go weeks between rides now. However remember that it's not a good idea all the time when riding regularly since it may give your battery one last start at home and not another 50 miles from home. If I were you I would get me a $20 volt resistance amp meter and put the amp meter in line with battery with key off and check drain. If it has a alarm you cannot just check by seeing if there is a spark when you hook battery wire since alarm makes a big spark and pulls a pretty heavy 25 milliamperes load for 30 seconds before it trims back to monitor mode of 3.0 milliamperes. Normal key off load on a FI is 2.5 milliamperes and the alarm adds 3.0 more for a total of 5.5 . A carb bike with no alarm and key off should draw little to none. Just my opinion but if you have a problem it will not last a week but of course if you did not try to start it for a month you did not no battry died three weeks ago. If it really drained an amg gel battery they can kiil them. You really need to know what it's going down to.

After a good 24 hour low amp controlled charge and the battery has set about 2 hours voltage should be about 12.8 volts.

12.8 = full charged

12.6 = 75%

12.3 = 50%

12.0 =25%

With a DC volt meter hooked across the battery terminals and reading 12.7 or so, crank motor and while its cranking it should not drop below 9.6 volts or so and as soon as it starts and throttled up to 2000 rpm or so should read 14.8 or so volts. The crank check shows a rough check of the reserve amperage capacity of the battery while cranking with a 150-200 amp load on it. The 14.8 or so shows a good alternator and if you leave it on a while as the battery is recharged from starting, the regulatory will drop the voltage a little showing itself working. However with the lights and stuff always on it will never drop back much.
When a battery wears out a good charge will show fairly good voltage but the battery can still have very low amperage capacity which will show in the crude crank test but really should be checked after a good charge by removing it from bike and getting a free check at a place like AutoZone that has a fancy load meter check that gives you a print out of the battery health. Battery MUST BE CHARGED to check it.

 

Nah, don't buy a tender or ride it once a week, just buy a new battery every other month.

Nah, JK. Get this instead.
http://www.batterymart.com/p-battery...y-charger.html